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- Apr 1, 2024
I'm so paranoid I encrypt my file names.
The Linux Thread - The Autist's OS of Choice
- Thread starter tehpope
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- Dec 17, 2019
Do you also run a computer with a CPU that doesn't have Intel IME/AMD PSP? If you don't, you're not paranoid enough.
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2023
I do have Krusader installed but it's too autistic for me to use it for simple file operations. I'm sure it would be nifty at work since it involves lots of file operations and W11 Explorer sucks ass.
It can be disabled from settings, doesn't change the fact that it's big corpo way of doing updates.
I used Manjaro and Antergos years ago, my conclusion was to just install Arch myself, that way I will at least be forced to learn how to fix breakage since installation takes more time on Arch May as well script it yourself at this point Worked out alright in the end, one of my installations from 2015 is still running great.
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
For Windows you want Total Commander. Sure it's paid, but it's a one-time perpetual license so it's likely that your workplace would get you one, or if they believe TC's licensing allows you to use your own license as long as you're the one using it, you'd be able to bring your own. Works from Windows 95 up to Windows 11, and modern licenses work on the latest version for Windows 3.1.
It's much like learning how to use vim, once you have the muscle memory learned it becomes natural, and the neat part is that you can then use Krusader on your Linux desktop and feel right at home, then SSH into your server, launch mc and feel right at home. The basics are easy to learn, arrow keys for navigation, Ctrl+PgUp/PgDn for going up/down in the directory tree, Tab to switch between panels, Insert to select a single file, F2 to rename, F5 to copy, F6 to move, F8 to delete, F7 for new directory, F4 for edit. Though in TC F2 is set as refresh by default but it's easy to rebind, or bind a function, even a custom one, to a new keybinding.
Basically, if you were autistic enough to learn how to operate vim, you're autistic enough to learn how to operate an OFM.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2020
Based TRVTH spreader. Seriously have no idea how more people aren't worried about these kinds of things. Thankfully, Libreboot et al. are doing good work with more modern(ish) hardware nowadays (officially up to T480 thinkpads, but unofficially anything that runs ME v.11....). Though far from perfect, there is something very romantic to me about bricking Boot Guard with a CVE. Feels like sticking it to Moloch and Baal (Intel and AMD, respectively).
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- Dec 7, 2020
That is because Libreboot now includes proprietary blobs. Francis Rowe's other project Canoeboot does not include blobs and neither does gnuboot
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- Dec 19, 2022
This is why Split is such a valuable Dolphin feature to me. I can just hop into the folder containing the files I want to sort, split, and navigate my split over to the folder containing the folders I'll be sorting into (for instance my NAS music directory, where I sort into bands). Then it's just drag and drop.
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- Mar 23, 2020
Hence the "far from perfect". The tradeoff is always power vs philosophy. As appealing as running truly libre tech is, going Canoe/gnuboot + Trisquel or Parabola is a touch too great of an inconvenience, even for me. And, besides, the way in which some of the older models in Libreboot's current lineup are flashed inspires enough confidence to call them "clean".
TLDR; you use a buffer overflow exploit to execute arbitrary code in the ME that shuts down Intel Secure Boot, allowing you to run me_cleaner + HAP so that the ME terminates after boot. Running checks for vPro, AMT or IME all fail. I personally have librebooted and run two machines, an X230 and W541 (from 2012 and 2014 respectively). I have done every possible audit on these things, including attempting to access AMT throug the webui & monitoring network traffic with all ports closed to see if anything creeps through. It does not. Unless Intel has a hidden baseband in their ancient processors pinging cell towers nearby, this is good enough confirmation for me to think that the IME is sufficiently felted.
If you want to be technical about it, vPro (Intel's remote managemenet tool) has existed since 2006, and AMT (Active Management Technology) since 2005, so unless you're running 20+ year old hardware, I fear "good enough" will have to be good enough.
BlackHat conference explaining the CVE , Video of said conference; implementation of CVE in Libreboot MEv11
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- Dec 17, 2019
At this point, learning how to live without a computer in case when SHTF will be more beneficial than trying to have a machine that definitely doesn't spy on you in any way.
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- Nov 17, 2023
How can you be sure that your Embedded Controller isn't reading your memory? You bricked ME region of BIOS image, how can you be sure that someone with insider knowledge (state) can't sideload new image through secret MSR? I don't remember off the top of my head but there's millions of possible MSR combinations on modern x86, and CPU vendors can have equivalent of port knocking implemented so you wouldn't discover it with timing attack (checking if there's a mysterious delay before rejecting invalid MSR)..
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- Apr 1, 2024
I thought some of you would really enjoy what this guy says about Wayland and xorg.
I do have one of my laptops librebooted.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2020
Fair point. I've got a couple to counter:
#1: To my understanding, an MSR-based attack would execute some sort of code at runtime either automatically if it detects that a certain 'flag' has been met, or if an attacker initiates it from the outside. Theoretically you can't know if something like this happens in the black box firmware that has yet to be cracked, but I somehow doubt it would do so completely silently. For instance, my network traffic is filtered through a Pi that routinely sniffs traffic, then an OpenWRT One with completely auditable FOSS firmware. Even with some super duper sneaky port knocker embedded in the EC, I am *99% sure the resultant traffic would have been caught by now.
#2: Internal flashing is impossible on both of the machines I mentioned, so for someone to flash a new image, they'd need physical access to my advice, which can be countered through Secure libreBoot.
#3: Libreboot can be packaged to include flash write protection & grub hardening, which should* cuck out any firmware tampering as an attack vector.
#4: Although security by obscurity is no security at all, the X230 is a machine from 2012. This is a full year before even the Snowden leaks happened, and way before people started fucking with the IME. Might be cope on my end, but this gives me at least a crumb of doubt that they would have gone full bore with redundancies in case the IME got bricked on any given machine. For the W541, sure, there may have been something implemented after the fact as it is a wholly different generation of processors (Ivy Bridge vs Haswell). But, they're both quite old. People really started fucking with Intel firmware around 2016/17, which is when I'd assume a malicious actor (Intel / Feds) would add undocumented MSRs in response to tampering efforts (especially after the Black Hat conference I cited).
***there's no real way to know for sure whether or not something like that exists, and if so, what its capabilities could be. Most of the firmware on pretty much any computer is blackboxed. Nothing is 100% safe until we have the ability to fabricate our own processors and ECs and everything else, so until then, the best we can do is 'good enough'.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2018
Came back to the thread because of the PewDiePie video (or specifically, this reaction to it).
Nothing special if you don't want to watch/listen to it.
Since the whole discussion about linux being easier than windows and the like came up again, as did the whole "valve did nothing" argument. Thought I'd quickly go into both as a layman who only occationally checks the thread.
Win XP was peak, followed by 7, then 10 LTSC. There are rough edges, but 30 years of muscle memory and knowledge of how to get around problems means each new issue is just one more rung on the ladder, whereas with linux you're starting at the bottom. The gaps between those rungs is getting bigger on Windows, and the ladder so shaky that after Win 10, I might have to use something else.
Broadly speaking, I want an OS to get out of the way so I can do what I need to do. This happens in game dev where I use "inferiour" tools like Crocotile, Godot, and GIMP instead of Blender, Unreal, and Photoshop. Because while more capable, business or usability problems for common tasks is too much.
This is what things like Steam OS offers people. "It just works". I've never heard of steam deck owners needing to open the terminal to copy a file or install a game. I've not seen people get screamed at online because their Steamdeck has Debian instead of Fadora or because they downloaded a flatpak instead of snap. From the outside, the layman is told distro doesn't matter but it's also vitally important.
The old Linus Tech Tips video where they used Linux for a month is a great example of the random user experience. Mine included. "It's the year of the linux desktop!" only to immediately run into some edge case, then get blamed for it because they did something wrong when it didn't seem like they did anything particularly retarded. It's like the game dev problem.
"How do I do X?"
"Do Y."
"But Y doesn't do X."
"You should never do X."
*thread closed by mod*
A great example. The YouTuber I linked. In one of his reaction videos he complains when someone complains that, while Steam is great on Linux, trying to get other stores like GoG and Battlenet to work is a pain. The YouTuber basically dismisses it, saying that he has Steam, so why would he want those other stores.
As for why are people intimidated by Linux but also rice the fuck out of it, it's because the ricing part is fun. When you're exhausted and just want to boot a game to relax, you don't want to spend an hour digging through forum posts for a solution that may or may not work.
Since the whole discussion about linux being easier than windows and the like came up again, as did the whole "valve did nothing" argument. Thought I'd quickly go into both as a layman who only occationally checks the thread.
Win XP was peak, followed by 7, then 10 LTSC. There are rough edges, but 30 years of muscle memory and knowledge of how to get around problems means each new issue is just one more rung on the ladder, whereas with linux you're starting at the bottom. The gaps between those rungs is getting bigger on Windows, and the ladder so shaky that after Win 10, I might have to use something else.
Broadly speaking, I want an OS to get out of the way so I can do what I need to do. This happens in game dev where I use "inferiour" tools like Crocotile, Godot, and GIMP instead of Blender, Unreal, and Photoshop. Because while more capable, business or usability problems for common tasks is too much.
This is what things like Steam OS offers people. "It just works". I've never heard of steam deck owners needing to open the terminal to copy a file or install a game. I've not seen people get screamed at online because their Steamdeck has Debian instead of Fadora or because they downloaded a flatpak instead of snap. From the outside, the layman is told distro doesn't matter but it's also vitally important.
The old Linus Tech Tips video where they used Linux for a month is a great example of the random user experience. Mine included. "It's the year of the linux desktop!" only to immediately run into some edge case, then get blamed for it because they did something wrong when it didn't seem like they did anything particularly retarded. It's like the game dev problem.
"How do I do X?"
"Do Y."
"But Y doesn't do X."
"You should never do X."
*thread closed by mod*
A great example. The YouTuber I linked. In one of his reaction videos he complains when someone complains that, while Steam is great on Linux, trying to get other stores like GoG and Battlenet to work is a pain. The YouTuber basically dismisses it, saying that he has Steam, so why would he want those other stores.
As for why are people intimidated by Linux but also rice the fuck out of it, it's because the ricing part is fun. When you're exhausted and just want to boot a game to relax, you don't want to spend an hour digging through forum posts for a solution that may or may not work.
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2024
Imagine using apple anything. Sad, disgusting, shameful.
I realized I should mention what's actually in the video.
Apple and valve are in some litigation. Apple seems to have committed perjury, and was called out by the judge for it.
Also apple is still a shit company, that over charges for their hardware. Locks down what it can be used for (particularly insulting with the price you pay). Is gay. Just use android and Linux if you're going to use anything. And I don't think android is particularly great, but it's still better than ios.
I would say both parties in that situation are faggots. 1 caring what some person online things about your distro choice. 2 being a random person online caring what some other person chose to use.
Retarded Weeb
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2022
Gaming works pretty well at this point. Like 90% of games will work immediately with Proton-GE without any fiddling. And a lot of ones that don't immediately work well are things that also don't run well on modern Windows and have some fan patch you can install to fix it.
I think that's more to do with Steam Deck than Steam OS itself. The OS isn't really doing that much special. I'm pretty sure people just have an easier time using it because the form factor of the machine means they're only really using it to play games, and as stated above Valve has gotten that working really well at this point. The rise in Linux gaming due to Steam Deck has also gotten more devs to make sure their game just werks in Proton, and some people to make simpler guides to getting other shit running, or making their modding programs run better in Linux.
I have no idea about Battlenet, but you can just use GOG via their website. I guess this is about using GOG Galaxy. I've never bothered myself because the launcher doesn't really add much, but I've heard people say it's a pain to get running but can if you tinker around with a custom Wine prefix for it. While I understand your overall point, there will be things you can't easily do on Linux just as there will be things you can't easily do on Windows, you just have to weigh the pros and cons when factoring in what you use your computer for. And personally, I feel like not being able to get GOG Galaxy running easily is a very minor con when I still buy and download GOG games via my internet browser.
Yeah, I'm never going to accept the viewpoint that Linus wasn't being retarded in that situation. Sure, the Pop OS devs screwed up in putting out a release with misconfigured packages that caused the issue, but not only could Linus have avoided the issue if he did a full update of everything before trying to install new programs like Steam, but he had no intellectual curiosity at all in reading the big "don't do this you fucking retard" warning that came up on screen. If he paid any attention he would have seen he was about to nuke his desktop environment, but he pressed on anyway and went surprised pikachu face about it. If you yourself act the same way and can't be bothered to even read the basic messages the OS is giving you then you're always going to run into problems regardless of what OS you're using, especially if you're new to it and need to learn at least some basics to it as you go.
GNU Abyss
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- May 30, 2023
Collapse OS is what you need then.
The problem is monkey see, monkey do. Linux "advocates" mimic the bullshit commercialized open source products peddle in their promos and advertisements. All-in-one solution, best thing ever, slick & elegant - that kind of word vomit. If you say that Linux is a different OS, that you need to essentially go back to the time when you first started using Windows as a kid for a while, and there are tradeoffs to be made when using it, you'd get AKSHULLY'd on every single point by people with too much time on their hands.
I also suspect that there's a talmudic word game going on. "Couldn't find a use case" and "you should never do this" are easier to say than "we don't have the manpower or the ability to mimic this functionality, sorry". It also sounds less damaging, although for the user the outcome of either is the same anyway.
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- Aug 23, 2018
Maybe he was. But the other guy in the video ran into some weird desktop issues on mint too iirc. And when they tried to play Supreme Commander, they were told they shouldn't play Supreme Commander and should play something else. From what I understand all the issues they ran in to in that video have since been fixed.
But it is (or was) the more general point of running into some edge case. A specific game, a specific tool, some hardware issue that seems like it shouldn't be an issue. I dunno, something.
I never thought of that. Especially since I don't hear of those issues when people use SteamOS on other hardware. Granted, there are issues with it if you dont have specific hardware.
I considered trying Linux again on a SBC recently. Only to run into a strange conundrum more suited to the hardware thread. Basically, I thought of getting a Raspberry Pi. Only to be told don't bother, get a cheap NUC instead. Playing games on it/spending a little more money? Get a Steam Deck, even if it's just used a mini desktop the whole time.
El Goblina
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- May 14, 2019
I'm actually planning on upgrading to an iPhone 15 Pro Max when my current venture starts being more profitable. ProDNG + Apple optics + USB C appeal to me, and Android's become nearly as authoritarian in their behaviour as iOS. So my phone is closed. Whoopty shit. I'm not running a custom OS on my phone anyhow. And I say this as someone who is currently posting from an OS where I built everything from source.
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2024
I'm using an iPhone (13 mini specifically) and its 100x better then Android. Ever since Android 12 especially Google has been removing a lot of "customisation" stuff. While Apple has been adding a lot of customisation features to iOS. It just works isn't just a meme, its also a reality with Apple products.
I also found it was cheaper to buy one expensive iPhone that lasts for years and is durable vs Androids that fall apart after a year.
Everything else Apple can go burn in a fire though.